For my body story assignment there were two particular areas that interested me, the first was the muscular system especially within my feet. This area interested me especially because I had particular injuries e.g. pulled ligaments in my foot and overstretching of the muscles causing my arch to collapse in both feet. In my research I have looked at the differences between ligaments and tendons and which one does which job. Both injuries were caused by an overworking of the foot through ballet. Since being at university, I have found different ways of work around this and learnt to soften through my feet, through more bending of the knees therefore releasing tension off my feet as I land. Also I have found that by not articulating my feet so much in dance, so that its in an abnormal point in the air, I can perform a lot more jumps sequences or a longer period of time without it aching.
The next system that has interested me with my research has been energy systems. For me this was a big part of my life when I was 15, as I was diagnosed with exhaustion, that led onto depression. Daily tasks seemed stifling simply because of the lack of energy I had. At that point in my life I had to learn to just deal with it and carry on because of school and dancing commitments, but now at university I've got to learn more about it and how I can deal with it in periods of exhaustion. The classes we had in The Alexander Technique were especially helpful, finding ways of carrying out daily movements/activities with less energy so that you yield it for others. Next the lecture given on nutrition by Kayte, made me reevaluate what I was eating and how that may affect my energy levels within in class. I now eat breakfast almost everyday and eat far more wholesome foods e.g.wholemeal bread, brown rice, which give a greater energy yielding than plain forms of these. I believe that my concentration levels have improved within in class and I wish to continue to find ways of helping myself find more energy.
Feedback for duet from our peers and Kayte
We were firstly worried about if our idea came across clearly enough, but our peers assured us it was very clear. Kayte's feedback was that we shouldn't go down the path of contact improvisation but stick to simple activities like running or walking. These apparently show how different we are as movers rather than trying to overwork the idea. As a duet we didn't even think about it, because it seemed far to simple. Our peers thought out movement was very similar to that of out studio practice classes and that we shouldn't worry about just dancing as ourselves, which would be a clear way to show individuality. I would agree, but I am worried that if we did this, I would fall back into my old style and this would hinder my progress in the duet. The last idea that was suggested was about an idea of colour and maybe costume. After each section stripping off another layer until it reveals a bright colour which represents our movement personalities. I loved this idea and can't wait to try it out.
Duet Studio work with Shannon
We decided to take a phrase and purposefully make it identical and perform it again how we ourselves in our natural moving bodies would perform it. Secondly we decided to do a score of the studio and find the differences within our personalities from the scores to create a section of contact improvisation. Here are some videos of that session...
Duet Words
On our choreographic day during reading week Kayte gave us a handout called the 86 aspects of composition by Mike Vargas. From this in out duet we had to choose words that stood out to us. Shannon and I choose sensation, perception and colour. The one that drew most of my attention was sensation, because as an individual we all experience different emotions through different activities whether its walking the dog or bungee jumping. But its the way we perceive the sensation we get from that experience, that shapes us as people. This then led onto themes for our duet and one word that summoned all three of these words up was individuality. The way we perceive the world, experience sensations and see the colours in peoples is all about individuality. From this we decided to go down the route of Anna Halprin and how she believes that you don't have to be trained to be dance. It's more about the experiences and personality you bring to the dancing rather than your flexibility and strength.
Paper scores with Florence.
In one choreography session we had to get large sheets of paper and colouring pens between a pair. One of the pair had to dance on the paper while the other marked and scored with pens details of the others dancing that intrigued them such as; rhythms of body parts, outlines of hair, curves of the body etc. From this we had created a score in which we had to dance from. Here is a few pictures from the session and a video of mine and Ioana's improvisation from the paper score.
Thoughts from the exploration.
I think you can create a duet with objects but it must be the main theme throughout. Taking the object and placing it in different spaces causes a shift in how daring you can beat and it also changes the object itself. I think I preferred the duet exploration with the chair more than the body part improvisation, because there was more possibilities of movement and I never ran out of ideas. But I don't know whether the chair duet ended up being movement decoration around the chair?
Exploration of the duet form.
Kayte Coe gave us two scores to explore the duet form, one involved a conversation between two body parts of different people and the other a duet with a chair. These are some videos from that exploration....
What is a duet?
A duet is a composition of two performers or a pair. Do two performers have to be in constant unison for it to be classed as a duet? Or can they compliment and Contrast? A duet is about more than just two people dancing in the space at the same time. A duet is like a conversation is needs two. How much do two performers have to be in connection for it to be a duet before they just become two people in the same place at the same time?
A pair-
a bride and groom-
a racehorse and it's rider
a knife and fork,
interlocking parts,
egg and bacon.........
there are many different types of pairs, ones that piece together to make a bigger picture, ones that are completely opposite but are a great combination, ones that can't work without the other and ones that are so different that's what relates them.
A pair-
a bride and groom-
a racehorse and it's rider
a knife and fork,
interlocking parts,
egg and bacon.........
there are many different types of pairs, ones that piece together to make a bigger picture, ones that are completely opposite but are a great combination, ones that can't work without the other and ones that are so different that's what relates them.
A piece by Siobhan Davies- Wyoming.
From the piece I can see a large canvas that creates what seems like hills creating images of the vast distance of the Wyoming landscape. The texture of the canvas suggests a very natural environment, maybe a more earthy surface like sand. There are also markings painted onto the canvas which could be related to Native American writings, being as the dance is inspired from Wyoming. There are also rumples in the canvas evoking the idea of a ragged skyline of rocks/mountains.
After some research I found out the designer was David Buckland. He accompanied Siobhan Davies on her trip to America, therefore directly experiencing the landscape of Wyoming.
Within the film, I think there is a lower intensity of light on stage right, picking up on the canvas rumbles at the back. This again suggests a distant horizon. From stage left there is wall of dominant lights that create a strong parallel beam, giving the idea of landscape but at the same time hinting at sunlight. Throughout the piece there are changes in light intensity and patches of shade to emphasis different qualities of light or times of the day. The lightning effects depend on where the dancers are and camera angles.
From looking at the film their costumes were high waisted fitted trousers and baggy work-men like shirts that were tucked in. I would say also say the costumes are non gender specific. The clothes were natural colours to give the idea that they had faded giving a sense of a lived in/everyday feel. The shirts gave a roughness and texture, which echoed the canvas. Lastly they had bare feet and free hair suggesting a everyday environment.
The movement material within the five solos, seemed to me, to be the dancers response to their environment. There is a lot of pedestrian movements e.g. walking, starring into the distance and arm gestures. The dancers also managed to reflect the idea of vast space within their movement phrases. In the second part there are a mixture of duets, trios and ensemble work. The main theme that shone through for me was the idea of encounters and influence of other beings in a such a desolate place.
The last major component within the piece was the use of the camera. By filming the dancer work, I believe Siobhan Davies has created a greater sense of space reflecting the Wyoming landscape. At the start of the dance work, there is an overlay of images;sand, water, grass, these naturalistic images reinforce the landscape qualities of the dance. In the dance piece they use a lot of cuts, framing and mobile camerawork which seems to create an idea that you are with dancers experience what they are seeing and feeling too.
After some research I found out the designer was David Buckland. He accompanied Siobhan Davies on her trip to America, therefore directly experiencing the landscape of Wyoming.
Within the film, I think there is a lower intensity of light on stage right, picking up on the canvas rumbles at the back. This again suggests a distant horizon. From stage left there is wall of dominant lights that create a strong parallel beam, giving the idea of landscape but at the same time hinting at sunlight. Throughout the piece there are changes in light intensity and patches of shade to emphasis different qualities of light or times of the day. The lightning effects depend on where the dancers are and camera angles.
From looking at the film their costumes were high waisted fitted trousers and baggy work-men like shirts that were tucked in. I would say also say the costumes are non gender specific. The clothes were natural colours to give the idea that they had faded giving a sense of a lived in/everyday feel. The shirts gave a roughness and texture, which echoed the canvas. Lastly they had bare feet and free hair suggesting a everyday environment.
The movement material within the five solos, seemed to me, to be the dancers response to their environment. There is a lot of pedestrian movements e.g. walking, starring into the distance and arm gestures. The dancers also managed to reflect the idea of vast space within their movement phrases. In the second part there are a mixture of duets, trios and ensemble work. The main theme that shone through for me was the idea of encounters and influence of other beings in a such a desolate place.
The last major component within the piece was the use of the camera. By filming the dancer work, I believe Siobhan Davies has created a greater sense of space reflecting the Wyoming landscape. At the start of the dance work, there is an overlay of images;sand, water, grass, these naturalistic images reinforce the landscape qualities of the dance. In the dance piece they use a lot of cuts, framing and mobile camerawork which seems to create an idea that you are with dancers experience what they are seeing and feeling too.
Siobhan Davies Archive
As part of D-Traces Project the whole class had to take part in a library session, exploring the Siobhan Davies archive and creating a scrapbook of; videos, pictures, written resources and biography that intrigued us. Even though I had studied Siobhan Davies before, I had never had access to the volume of resources that were now present at my finger tips. Siobhan Davies had been key in my choice to enter the contemporary world, the way shes uses all aspects of the artistic world strongly in her pieces, fascinates me. It was also a great introduction to a project that been drawn from her archive. Lastly it would aid my studies for researching, writing, choreographing and improvising.
Firstly I choose the video of her piece Wyoming because I had previously studied the first section at GCSE and was curious to see the development of the dance, as I found the first section very inspiring and considered it maybe to be a creative stimulus in the future. I also saved the cast sheet, article and details about the piece carnival, this being because I had watched the piece but had no understanding about what it was about or who the dancers were. Also in my scrapbook I saved images and videos of a piece called Bank, this simply was because it had been mentioned by some of the dancers at the Siobhan Davies dance day that they were part of and I was interested to see how they moved and to see what the piece was about. Overall I believe I would use the archive again to definitely aid my studies.
Firstly I choose the video of her piece Wyoming because I had previously studied the first section at GCSE and was curious to see the development of the dance, as I found the first section very inspiring and considered it maybe to be a creative stimulus in the future. I also saved the cast sheet, article and details about the piece carnival, this being because I had watched the piece but had no understanding about what it was about or who the dancers were. Also in my scrapbook I saved images and videos of a piece called Bank, this simply was because it had been mentioned by some of the dancers at the Siobhan Davies dance day that they were part of and I was interested to see how they moved and to see what the piece was about. Overall I believe I would use the archive again to definitely aid my studies.
Skinner Releasing Technique
I participated in a few classes in Skinner Releasing technique with Florence Peake which I really enjoyed. The Skinner Releasing Technique lets us practice letting go of; unnecessary muscle tension, holding in our body preconceptions about what is suppose to happen, what body a dancer should have, habitual ways of thinking and patterns allowing something new to happen. By doing this we find energy and power to rediscover alignment, improved strength and flexibility in a way that it feels natural to the body. This technique really spoke to me as a dancer, it was maybe a turning point into the way I would go about achieving the steps that I wished. I have been classically trained and was always told to hold my body up to achieve such movements as pirouettes. But being told to pull your body up doesn't necessarily work for every individual dancer. I thought that if there was another way I could achieve the same results, but without the unnecessary muscle tension all over my body, then maybe it would be worth a try.
Imagery is also a huge part of a class for the transformation process. Florence would guide us through a imagery movement score by voice, sometimes with our eyes closed, allowing us to embody the imagery and move in the way we wished. For me this created surprising ways of moving. but at the same time after class I still felt like I had been in a technical class. If I had continued to do this class weekly instead of say Ballet, would my technical ability have decreased or improved?
Pictures from my journal of imagery used within the class.
Imagery is also a huge part of a class for the transformation process. Florence would guide us through a imagery movement score by voice, sometimes with our eyes closed, allowing us to embody the imagery and move in the way we wished. For me this created surprising ways of moving. but at the same time after class I still felt like I had been in a technical class. If I had continued to do this class weekly instead of say Ballet, would my technical ability have decreased or improved?
Alexander Technique.
In January I took part in two Alexander Technique classes with Lucia Walker. The Alexander technique is a method of noticing habits within our everyday movement, that we can change so that we release harmful tension. The technique also looks at the use of different amounts of energy for different movements. We looked at how we could reduce the amount of effort for one movement/activity so that it yields energy for many more. Within the class I noticed I carried unnecessary tension in areas that were very unrelated to the activity I was doing e.g. when I'm walking, I clench my throat and jaw, making my head be pushed back. I became very aware of this clenching in the days that followed and would have to stop and really think about not to do because it had become a natural process to do. Also on the day, Lucia got us to simply sit in an upright position. Immediately everyone sat bolt upright, which isn't a natural position. But after some explanation from Lucia, we attempted to find a better sitting position for our bodies, which would release tension and allow us to breath. I found this task exceptionally difficult as I arranged myself in a theoretically better position but it was still uncomfortable. I sit forwards on my sit bones and a hunched over position because that's the only way I can sit unaided for a long period of time without my back muscles starting to ache. For me it raised some questions; Do I have an injury? Weak back muscles? Am I doing my body more harm? or just because its not comfortable now, does that mean it always will be?
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